Firework-related injuries at 185 as of New Year’s Eve –DOH
The number of firework-related injuries (FWRIs) reached 185 on New Year’s Eve after 37 more cases were added to the previous 148 cases on the 10th day of the Department of Health’s (DOH) “Iwas-Paputok Injury Reduction 2015″ campaign.
Of the latest number of victims, 155 or 86 percent were males. Of them, 135 sustained hand injuries and 20 head injuries.
Majority of the FWRIs — totaling 149 — involved children less than 14 years old.
Of the total 185 injuries, at least three cases required amputations.
As usual, the illegal piccolo firecracker was the top cause, accounting for 133 injuries.
A total of 142 victims involved active igniters while the others were passive or did not ignite firecrackers themselves but were merely bystanders and innocent victims.
Meanwhile, one more case of stray bullet incident has been recorded while fireworks ingestion remains in zero level based on the reports submitted by DOH’s sentinel hospitals.
The latest stray bullet victim was a nine-year-old girl from Marikina City who was reported to have been hit in the left chest while watching a television show inside their house.
The patient was admitted at Amang Rodriguez Medical Center on Dec. 30 but was transferred to the Marikina Valley Hospital for operation.
“The 185 cases recorded so far were 308 cases or 62 percent lower than the five-year (2010-2014) average and 250 cases or 57 percent lower than the same period last year,” said DOH spokesperson Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy.
Majority of the cases were in the National Capital Region (NCR) with a total of 85 cases, followed by Bicol Region with 31 cases and Regions 11 (Davao) and Region IV-A (CALABARZON) with 15 cases each.
Meanwhile, the earlier reported case of stray bullet incident involving nine-year-old Lorena Cruz in Norzagaray, Bulacan was removed from the list of stray bullet cases after police investigations revealed that the death of the child was caused by accidental firing allegedly by her own brother.
Investigation showed that the air gun of the girl’s brother went off when it fell after being hung on the wall and the bullet accidentally hit Lorena.
The DOH’s FWRI surveillance and monitoring started since December 21, 2015 and will end on January 5, 2016.
The DOH has reminded those injured by firecrackers to have anti-tetanus shots to prevent fatal consequences.
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